Do we like it or not

I'm hoping they will release a big brother to this with an optical view finder, or a hotshoe EVF like ricoh's vf-2 (Ricoh - - Ricoh - VF-2 VIEWFINDER FOR GXR). And also that they release some new DSLRs and lenses... a lens road map would be awesome

Contrary to my normal habit of buying after a price drop, I am pre-ordering this as soon as the links go live. This will be a great companion/backup to my K-5 on motorcycle trips - put the DA21 on the K-01 and the DA70 on the K-5 and Bob's my uncle! Hope the video is good too, as I'm shooting more of that than ever.

It seems to be really tuned for video. Appears to have AF for video, has more modes and higher quality video, and Ogl has pointed out that it's "Full HD 1080p video capture at 30 FPS with h.264 compression (60 FPS at 720p) features shutter speed and aperture exposure control, video autofocus control"

So, if you are focusing on video this seems to be a better alternative to the K-5. Too bad its lost much of the control and options that make the K-5 a great still camera.

No immediate judgment, but I have concerns. I do like the way it looks, though in yellow it looks a bit like some sort of surveyor's tool. I thought that the advantage of a mirrorless dSLR was that it did not have to be as thick. On the one hand, I applaud the decision to keep the K mount, but on the other hand, I think the thickness of the K-01 will work against it. I wonder if they considered making the camera thinner (like most mirrorless dSLRs) and including an adapter for traditional k-mount lenses. And what is the point of a line of lenses that mount on the K-01 but not other Pentax cameras? Is it a compromise to protect the more expensive line of DA lesnes, while still offering super-thin lenses at a lower price for the K-01? And what is this I hear about a crippled Av mode? It has Av, so what's missing from it? I would miss TAv - it's my most-used exposure mode. Of course, the lack of a viewfinder is a problem too. The camera is thick enough. Couldn't they have fit an EVF in there? What are the camera's competitive points in the mirrorless, APS-C category?

not for the retro lovers for sure , I did hope, and still do.Pentax is going to make something like the Fuji x100, but better,
( Fuji just going to sell 10 000, all black of those babies, and I don't think it is going to take long to sell that many)
with all the good things Pentax got or done before, of course it is a brilliant idea, not to abandon the K mount,
but the old lenses on this "super designer" camera, just does not come together to me.I think
I'm talking about some of the younger photographers mind as well, we would like to see some retro cameras
with all new gear in it....It is easy to criticize, but I don't see much innovation in this camera, I just don't see the niche here,
it is designer, it is designed by a very good designer, but does it make that desirable? keeping the K mount is a plus,price is not bad ... will see

Paired with a FA lens, the K-01 doesn't look all that bad, but I find it hard to love this design. Now, if Pentax had chosen to go the legacy path, and designed a camera that paid tribute to the Spotmatic or MX I would have been overjoyed. Seeing that a small form factor has not been an important factor in designing the K-01, the end result is somewhat dissapointing - a Pentax-retro-SLR design should be entirely possible within the size of the K-01.

A part from that I love that they have released an APS-C sensor camera, and that it has a K-mount. To me both these facts are more important than the design itself. I also like the fact that the green and red button are customizable.

Alas, the absence of a viewfinder means that I will not purchase the K-01, but should the K-02 be released with a viewfinder I will buy one in a heartbeat.

I am frankly surprised that Pentax did not release this camera with a viewfinder, seeing that everything else about it is so SLR-ish (large form factor, APS-C sensor, K-mount). That makes the target group full of previous and current SLR owners, many of which dislike using a LCD display for framing. One can only hope that an external viewfinder is on it's way, or that the K-02 will feature either an optical or a EVF. Like someone else said in another K-01 thread this week: it took Sony a while to get the NEX-series right.

Therefore: for a first attempt at mirrorless I don't think Pentax has failed with the K-01. I am just sad to say that I will not be one of the buyers.

I REALLY want to love this camera but I just don't see who is going to buy it. Am I just being a killjoy?

You are not being a killjoy. This is perhaps the ugliest camera I have seen in recent years, even worse than what Ricoh released under their own brand. I think most of us here could have done a better job. Heck, make it a mini K-5 and you've already done a better job! My Olympus PEN gets nods of appreciation and lots of interest even before people see the great pictures I take with it. Looks do matter for anyone operating in the real world with clients to impress.

The K-01 does away with weather-sealing, a distinctive Pentax advantage. Personally, I don't think it matters much, but what this does for brand differentiation in the market is all bad.

It is far, far too large and for no reason. Sure the flange distance had to be maintained, but this looks like it was designed by someone with no ability to solve problems. (How about a camera with longest dimension being depth, like a videocam?) Size will kill this in the market, since that's what low-end buyers look for first.

I understand why Pentax would make this K-mount compatible. But it's going to effect less than 5% of the market -- everyone else is already using a different mount. Those who do want K-mount lenses have already been using them on MFT, Sony and other platforms, for the price of a $20 adapter. Yes, you lose AF, so indeed native compatibility has certain advantages. But the intersection set of beginners and K-mount enthusiasts has to be minuscule.

No articulated screen. No EVF. No soft buttons. No touch screen. The list of what this camera lacks compared to the competition is quite long.

What it has is a good sensor, a good sized sensor and SR. So it might well produce better images than Sony and the MFT alliance. But not so much better that the target market will care, I am guessing.

Back to bad design: they arbitrarily changed the controls on the rosette so this camera is different from all previous Pentax offerings. That is stupid. They removed TAv plus one other (misidentified in the write-up) mode. Inexplicable. Who knows what other limitations lurk within?

At current prices the K-01 costs 100 Euro less than a K-5 and is a lesser camera in many ways, most significantly the lack of a viewfinder. In a body this size that is inexcusable. I admit that the price is better than a lot of the over-inflated competition. But a brick like this took no special technology to develop, no real investment. Let's say the price falls to 400 Euros. It might be worth it then. But my PEN cost half that and I can still sell pictures taken with it.